Page 35 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

“So, there is someone?” His voice was curious, but also something else.

“Yep,” I said, nodding matter-of-factly. “It is called my Kindle and has yet to let me down.”

“Book boyfriends? I have to compete against book boyfriends?”

I ignored his comment about competing; I wasn’t falling for his flirty charms. Instead, I just leaned back on the bench, staring out over the ocean. The sunset was in its final flare now, bathing the world in warm reds and oranges. The Salt Lake valley had pretty sunsets, basically just because of the bad air, but this was something else. “I’m surprised you even know the term ‘book boyfriend.’”

“You forget I run tours on Prince Edward Island. If I had a nickel for every time I had to hear that Gilbert Blythe was somebody’s ‘book boyfriend,’ I wouldn’t need to work anymore.”

I sighed dramatically. “He is pretty perfect.”

Finn made a sound of disgust. “He isn’t real, Lucy.”

I turned my head lazily toward him, half a smile on my face. “But don’t you wish he were?”

“No, you know, I really don’t.” He smiled back at me, not a hint of frustration or annoyance in his gaze. But then his eyes dipped down to my mouth, lingering for half a second before jumping back to mine. He cleared his throat and looked away. “So, to recap, if I understand correctly, you don’t believe in love… but you love to read about it?”

I wanted to say his perception was entirely wrong, but was it? I scrunched up my nose, thinking. “I’ve got to admit that the characters in my books sure seem a lot happier than most of the people I meet in the real world.” I shrugged. “I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who are happily in love, but the odds of finding the right person at the right time?” I shook my head. “Slim to none. The odds of picking a great book to read about a love story you know will be satisfactory? Much higher.”

Finn studied me, then, slowly, he nodded. “Challenge accepted.”

I didn’t even want to know what he meant by that. The sun was almost gone now, the light wouldn’t be left for long, and I had a lot of work to do. I came to my feet. “I should get going. Thank you for the sunset.”

“Thank you for distracting my Gram and me at the hospital.” He leaned forward a little as if he would stand. “I’ll walk you back.”

“I think I’d like a minute to compose a pleasantly happy text for my mother, if you don’t mind?”

He nodded. “Can you find your way? It’s getting dark.”

“I’m not sure, but if I get lost, I’ll follow the clearly marked path.”

The sound of him chuckling accompanied me off the beach.

I had made it back to my room when my phone dinged. I assumed it was another text from my mom or the cousin chat, but I was surprised to see it was from an unknown number.

Unknown number: I’m currently readingPretenseby Jay Beckett. Feel free to look up the ending and spoil it for me.

Lucy: How did you get my number?

Unknown number: You put it down when you checked in. I figured I should have it, just in case we need to discussAnne of Green Gablestour locations.

Lucy: How thoughtful of you.

Lucy: The police officer is the murderer.

Unknown number: Gasp! That hurts. Guess we’re even now.

Lucy: You've got a long list of grievances before we are even.

Smiling, I saved Finn’s number in my phone.

Chapter 10

A Big Rejection

Finn

Igotasfaras powering on my laptop, opening the webpage, and logging in before the familiar mix of unnamed emotions flooded me, and I decided this could wait. They hadn’t officially decided to close the farm and business. No need to do anything drastic.

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